It’s 2006 and we’re in the midst of a tech boom. Our cars talk to us to keep us safe and make sure we buckle up when we close the door. While we’re at the mall, an automated voice tells us to watch our steps when we use escalators or enter an elevator. Our appliances interact with us to let us know when our food is well cooked or if we run out of milk. So what happened to our basic home controls? Why do we wake up in the morning in a dark house and stumble aimlessly to the kitchen for our first cup of Java? Why do we still have to yell at kids to get out of bed from the bottom of the stairs?

With today’s fast-paced lifestyles that we all lead, we tend to overlook the most basic problems and obstacles we face every day because we’ve gotten used to them. I remember as a kid hearing the kitchen and downstairs come to life as my parents fought over the coffee pot in the morning. Then came the inevitable, my mother’s voice yelling up the stairs to get my hinnies out of bed or I’d miss the bus. Well that was 20 years ago and still nothing has changed. Our society has grown so fast to accommodate our fast-paced lifestyles, like a car that talks to us, cell phones that instantly connect us to our office email, and computers that show us the morning news without going out to find it. porch that we miss the most basic necessities. Why do we spend more on the car, cell phone, or computer that has extra easy-to-use features, but when we buy the most expensive purchase of our life, like our house, we care more about appearance than functionality? Man has walked on the moon, we’ve landed rovers on Mars but we still make Grandma cross the room to turn on the lights?

Deciding on my first automation project, I quickly discovered that for less than 150.00 the sky was the limit. You could set up a simple remote system for lights, control ceiling fans, or set simple timers that activate specific appliances or systems within the house on a schedule. I have since installed motion sensors for my house to interact with my kids in the middle of the night to keep them safe when they use the bathroom. My house wakes me up in the morning and turns on the lights according to our families’ regular routines. It even saves us money by checking that everyone has left by *:00 and turning off all lights and appliances if we want to. As for security, I have installed a simple 19.00 wireless light switch on my headboard that has 4 simple buttons. One has all the lights on and the other has all the lights off. From a prone position, I can light up the house in an instant if I fear someone is intruding, or I can turn off all the lights and TVs in the kids’ room with a flick of the wrist. Guess what, no more yelling.

Advanced electronics have taken us a long way since the days of yore. A little goes a long way and we as a society are beginning to embrace this in our daily lifestyle. We are now seeing an increase in Home Automation Communities that have advanced communications with their owners. Remote lighting and voice activated systems. How about we go one step further? What about a household that thinks and sets timers for you? It helps him wake up in the morning by turning on the lights in the bedroom, and then turning on the lights in the master bathroom, hallway, kitchen, and children’s rooms. How about the radio with the morning news and the coffee pot? Everything here and now with the expansion of the microchip, the costs are usually minimal. How minimal do you ask? Well, with most X10 systems on the market today, the basic starter kit costs between 49.99 and 99.99 for software, hardware, and a few additions like a key fob. The interactive home is no longer for the rich and the wealthy!